


Costs of Trust

by spacedaydreamer



Series: safe end!vlr au [9]
Category: Zero Escape (Video Games)
Genre: Gen, after a half a year im finally updating!, safe end!junpei au, safe end!vlr au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-22
Updated: 2018-02-22
Packaged: 2019-03-22 15:44:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13767324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spacedaydreamer/pseuds/spacedaydreamer
Summary: It's natural to want to trust, even for a person like Junpei. Wanting to see the good in others, despite even situations as dire as a Nonary Game... but sometimes, trust is simply foolish.





	1. Chapter 1

“Tenmyouji! You’re with us!”

Junpei blinked and nodded as his name was called, chasing after Nona and Sigma. Everyone darted through their doors, and the three of them found themselves panting for breath once the secondary doors opened.

“Sigma… why would you pick me? I picked betray last time.”

“Yeah. And this time, I’m going to make you pick ally.”

“How do you plan on doing that?”

“Ah, you’ll see…”

Junpei could only raise an eyebrow to that- but hey, he could plan whatever he wanted. It didn’t really put Junpei out too much… and he wasn’t planning on picking betray this round anyways. Quark was at 6 BP, but he was still asleep- unless he woke up in time to pick betray, there’d be no way to get him out after this round. He needed one more round- so he’d have to hope that whoever was against the others with 6 BP either picked ally as well… or got betrayed.

There was no substantial conversation while they got to checking out the room, outside of a discussion about the room itself. This place was pressurized- Junpei couldn’t exactly explain _why_ that made perfect sense without explaining that they were on the moon, but the offered explanation of ‘maybe it’s to keep the virus out?’ was good enough for him. And it wasn’t _wrong_ \- they were indeed here to keep the virus away, and anyone from the moon would indeed likely stay in a hazmat suit the entire time they were on Earth.

They got to beginning to check the room, eventually each having to put on one of the ‘hazmat suits’ to check out the exchange chamber itself. There was a weird blow-up doll of Zero Jr. in there… who would’ve made something like that? It was a little bit creepy, honestly…

And creepier still was when they got trapped _inside_ the PEC after Nona ran out on them, causing the doll to expand from the drop in pressure.

It only took Sigma poking the thing twice for it to blow up with a loud bang, knocking some of the metal panels in the walls lose. After fixing up the laser emitters on the walls that’d been hidden, they managed to get enough power running to repressurize the room- but now they had the problem of unlocking the door.

A moment of running around and pointing to random spots on the other side of the glass eventually led to Nona finding a folder with the answer they needed- and now that they were _finally_ free again, they all promptly took the suits off and headed back up the lift.

“Say…. Do you think this doll would fit this littler suit?”

Nona was holding them both up, and Junpei tilted his head.

“Actually, uh… y’know, I think it might.”

“Really? I was saying that mostly as a joke…”

“No, that doll had to be there for a reason. Let’s give it a shot.”

“Okay, then…”

It was an awkward fit, but they _did_ eventually get the thing on. It ended up working _weirdly_ well, honestly… but no time to dwell. There were markings on the stomach that looked like a digital eight, and there was that stool they still hadn’t been able to do anything with- out of options, they decided to set the doll up there and just hope for the best. The puzzle took them a while to figure out, but they got it eventually- and they _finally_ made it into the safe, pulling things out one by one.

First was a map, fairly simple. Then were the moon keys, one for him and one for Sigma and Nona. Next was the room key… and finally, there was a little memory chip of sorts.

“I… feel like I’ve seen one of those before, haven’t I?” Junpei looked at the little blue thing, arms folded and brow creased. He couldn’t be forgetting something, could he? Well… he hated to admit it, but he _was_ getting up there. That memory wasn’t what it used to be, unfortunately… “I guess we can figure out what it is later. For now, let’s just get out of here.”

Neither of them seemed to want to argue him- that was good, because Junpei wasn’t in the mood for an argument. He just wanted to get _out_ of here.

Their exit path lead them to another warehouse, with little else luck. There were what seemed to be chromatic doors… but beyond that, nothing of value. They’d already been on their way back when a voice came over the speakers, informing them that an AB gate had been opened- the announcement felt oddly familiar to Junpei.

“Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s hurry back- I need to see Quark, anyways. We have to catch up with K and Alice.”

“Right, let’s go.”

Nona took the lead as they began their run back to the floor A warehouse, but there were only two people there. K and Dio were standing a distance apart from each other, the former looking (or at least _seeming_ ) to be excited upon their arrival.

“Where’s Quark?!”

“We took him to the infirmary. The others are looking after him at the moment.”

“Is he… is he alright?”

“I don’t know if I could describe him as ‘alright’, but his condition has not worsened. However, we—”

“Good. I’m going to the infirmary.”

Junpei didn’t bother listening to anything more that K had to say, running off in the direction of the infirmary. He darted through the door quickly, making his way through the short hall and into the room, where he found the girls all crowded around Quark, each with varying degrees of worry on their faces. The others piled in after him moments later, clearly not wanting to miss whatever was going to happen.

“How is he? How’s Quark?!”

They all jumped at his sudden question, but it was Luna who spoke up. Her voice was timid and soft, but there was joy in her eyes.

“Did K not tell you? Tenmyouji, they found it- there was axelavir in the laboratory!”

“What?!”

“Th-there was only one vial, but… we did it. We were able to cure him.”

“Then, Quark’s… he’ll… he’ll be okay…” Junpei could feel tears starting in the corners of his eyes, but he forced them back. “Alice, K… I… I don’t know what to say other thank… ‘thanks’. You… saved his life.”

Looking at him now, Quark seemed to be just fine. He looked just like he did after a long day of playing outside… he was only sleeping. He was _fine_ , just sleeping… heaving out a sigh of relief, Junpei lowered himself to a bed with shaky legs, pressing his fists into his legs. Quark was alive. He’d be fine- he didn’t have to worry about that terrible _, terrible_ virus.

The group was about to disperse, when it hit him- “That’s right! Sigma, you know that memory card we found?”

With a nod, the other pulled it from his pocket and held it up.

“Well, wasn’t there a thing for a screen here? Let’s hook it up and see what’s on it!”

The group all moved towards the screen in the room, watching as it displayed the waveform for an audio file. They all waited in silence as sound started to play… it was soft and just a bit distorted, but they could still make out the voices.

“ _This is control. How’s it going over there? Bet you missed the sound of my voice, huh? Well, I gotta be honest- it’s getting pretty lonely over here, too. Feeling kind like… howling at the moon, lone-wolf style. Speaking of which… I’m looking at it right now, and the old girl is **beautiful**. Never seen a moon this full, and that **colour** … tonight’s that eclipse, remember? What a way to end 2028, huh? The moon’s this amazing red… if it wasn’t beautiful, it’d be kinda… ominous. Wish you guys could see it too, but— ah, sorry, forgot. You’re supposed to be on mars, aren’t you? So, uh, how are Phobos and Deimos looking right now? Sure hope I’ll get to look up at them someday, too… anyways, Over.”_

The recorded voice went silent for a moment, but the radio static continued. When he began speaking again, there was a hint of worry to it- something was wrong.

Very wrong.

_“Hey, something wrong? Talk to me, guys.”_

Still, no response. The voice seemed to want to laugh it off, take it as a joke… but it was clear from his tone that he was finding it difficult.

_“What, gonna play hard to get ‘cause we haven’t talked in so long? Enough jokes, alright? Knock it off! Where are you guys?”_

Another beat- each time he spoke, his voice was growing more and more worried.

_“Is there something wrong with the radio…? …you’re saying everything’s green? Well then, what the hell’s going on here?! Why aren’t they responding?!”_ … _“No, the video feed’s online. Look, you can see all nine of them- three at each table.”_

Those tables- Junpei _remembered_ them. The card tables at DCoM, reluctantly sitting with Aoi and Carlos- this was… from DCoM? The voice was starting to sound familiar to him the more it repeated itself, and he _knew_ that it was true. It had to be true.

_“What?! Someone hacked our feed? What do you mean this isn’t live! …an old clip on repeat? Who would do that?! What in hell is happening here…”_

Something terrible was happening- it pinched at the back of Junpei’s mind, getting him to grip his head in his hands. There was… there was a weight on his wrist, and a vote, and- and then the memories slipped away again, just like they always did.

_“This is Control. I repeat, this is Control. Please come in, I’m asking you to respond!”_

_“This is—”_

_“Oh, thank god! You really had me worried there. What happened?”_

_“…”_ The woman’s voice fell silent- this was… Diana? Yes, there was no doubt about it- this was her voice. _“Six of us are… dead.”_

_“…What?”_

_“Counting myself, there are only three left.”_

_“How.. why are…?”_

_“They were killed. I guess you could say… **I** killed them… No, no, that’s not quite right. Not just them. Not just these six… All of them… all six billion… soon, I will have killed **six billion people—** ”_

_“Are you there?! Respond!!”_

Diana’s voice had gone silent, and Junpei was no longer listening. Six of them were… dead? That made no sense- it was _impossible_ for six of them to have died. Carlos had told him as much- Sigma was in the hospital, Phi and Diana had gone already… and he and Aoi had fought.

Why had Diana thought six were dead?

The answer was pressing at the back of his mind, making the headache grow worse, but there was nothing he could do for it. Each time he felt like he understood it, it slipped from his grasp again- and as far as he could tell, neither Sigma nor Phi were having _any_ reaction to this. Why was it that the guy who couldn’t remember anything past the first _couple days_ was the one who could remember her, and not them?! _This made no fucking sense!_

“Tenmyouji… do you know something?”

It was Nona who spoke up, her voice concerned. This was too dangerous, too much detail- he knew she’d never buy that there was more than one Tenmyouji involved in DCoM, but lying would only make him suspicious at this point.

“…Yeah. I… think I know what that was.”

“You do? Then tell us- what was it?!”

“It was… from something called DCoM- Dwelling for the Cohabitation of Mars. It was a test site planned by the government for a test mars mission… they gathered nine random participants to take part in a simulated mission to mars.”

“Were you one of the participants, then?”

“No, not me- I was just a janitor. Never really heard much of what happened, but… those young guys…” Junpei’s fists clenched, and he forced himself to keep his vision steady. “Nobody was ever able to confirm what actually happened to those people- the woman who’s voice you heard, she… I don’t think she ever actually told anyone what happened. I’d guess it was some sort of trauma; whatever happened in that facility couldn’t have been good. Even the survivors didn’t end up okay… one of the guys… lost both of his arms.”

Nobody had anything to say to that. There was a stunned silence, lasting for a good few minutes- but it was Nona again who piped up, her voice quiet.

“Then… when she mentioned six billion, what did…”

“There’s no time for me to explain that. I’d need _way_ longer to tell you everything- and I’m afraid we don’t have the time.”

Just as he finished speaking, the announcement voice came on, telling them that they only had five minutes before the deadline to vote. Everyone scrambled back towards the AB rooms, opening their own individual rooms and going inside. Junpei was about to do the same- when he felt an arm on his shoulder, holding him back.

“Oh, Sigma. You did say you were going to convince me to pick ally- mind telling me how?”

“It’s simple: I’m choosing ally.”

“So, you’re counting on me to not kill you, then.”

“Pretty much.”

Well, that had been his intent from the start- he wouldn’t tell Sigma of course, but he’d agree to his ‘proposition’.

“Alright, fine. Just make sure you don’t let Nona seduce you, or anything.”

“Wh-What?!” She quickly made a face of revulsion, sticking out her tongue and punching Sigma just a little bit too hard in the gut. “No _way!_ As if I’d _ever_ do something like that- _ew_.”

“Well, does that reassure you, Tenmyouji?”

“Yeah, plenty.”

With a grin pasted on his face he turned to his AB room, walked inside, and hit ally.


	2. Chapter 2

“Sigma, thanks. You really helped me out.” Junpei turned to him with just a hint of a grin after checking the results, hands on his hips. “I’m glad you could manage to trust me.”

“The same goes for you.”

“Well, I just did what I said I would.”

“Hey, uh…. Guys? Where did Alice go?”

Nona was looking around, but nobody seemed to know where she was. After a moment, K spoke up- it seemed as if Alice had been tired, and headed off towards the crew’s quarters. They let it drop and moved onto the bracelets after that point- if the next doors were white, then there was only one possible combination. Red and Cyan, Blue and Yellow, and Magenta and Green- Junpei was a yellow pair, and Sigma was a blue solo… nobody else in the room had yellow, which meant he was either paired up with Quark, Luna, or Alice. All of them were good to be partnered up with, honestly- it seemed like this round wasn’t going to be too bad for him. Especially considering Junpei… felt like he could trust Sigma. Or perhaps, it was that he _wanted_ to trust Sigma. Something about him made him feel like he could be trusted.

They all split up from there, with Sigma eventually following after him towards the infirmary. He asked Luna to leave upon arrival, as he returned a bit before Sigma- he wanted some time to himself to watch Quark. A wave of nostalgia washed over him, and he found himself wanting to pull out that old leather wallet, holding the two pictures in his hands. They were precious memories to him, perhaps the most precious things he had from way back then.

The first was a picture of Akane, old and yellowed by age. He’d had it since they were children- it had been a candid shot of her on that hill they’d loved to play on, her smile as bright as the sun. The other was a shot of him and Carlos, taken on a polaroid camera. The photographer had caught them mid-laugh about something, (although Junpei could no longer remember what), Carlos with one arm slung around Junpei’s neck in something of a half-hug. It had been a couple years after the apocalypse that the picture had been taken- Junpei had originally had it up behind some glass in their house, but after Carlos’s death he’d much preferred to keep it on him. It was the only thing he really had left that showed what he’d looked like, and together the two photographs made up his most valuable possessions in the world.

“…Tenmyouji? What’re you looking at there?”

Hearing Sigma’s voice, Junpei quickly turned around and shoved the pictures back into his pocket, shaking his head.

“Nothing. Doesn’t matter.”

“Uh, okay…” Rolling his eye, Sigma crossed his arms. “Where’d Luna go?”

“I asked her to leave. I wanted to be alone with Quark for a bit.”

“Alright then…”

They stared at each other in silence for a good few moments after that, Junpei eventually breaking the quiet.

“So. Why’d you follow me here?”

“I wanted to hear the rest.”

“The rest of what? What the hell are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about that ‘DCoM’ thing- the Mars mission. That _recording?_ ”

“I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, as if! Don’t play dumb with me Tenmyouji, you told us that it’d take longer to finish the details-“

“I’m getting old. I seem to be forgetting a lot of stuff lately…”

“Nice try pal, but you’re not getting away with that. You remember a hell of a lot, I _know_ that!”

“…” With a heavy sigh, Junpei looked off to the side. Perhaps… perhaps he _could_ tell Sigma? He’d proven himself trustworthy- he hadn’t picked betray either time. In fact, it was _Sigma_ who should’ve been distrustful of _Junpei_ … but he wasn’t. “Are you sure you really want to know?”

“Huh?”

“What if… what if what I have to tell you was so insane, that it shook the very foundation of what you thought you knew. What if what I know is enough to make you regret ever asking? For all you know, what I have to tell you could shatter every one of your hopes and dreams for the future. It could make everything you’ve ever believed ring hollow, and your world crumble around you…”

“U-Uh, that’s… you don’t need to threaten me…”

Junpei chuckled- he _wished_ it was a threat.

“I’m not… what I’m saying is _true_. You don’t have to believe me, certainly… but I’m only giving you fair warning. What I know isn’t something you should ask to hear unless you’re _completely_ certain you want to hear it. There are no take-backs for this knowledge, no matter how much you might wish there was.”

“W-Well, uhm…. of course—”

Sigma never got to finish his sentence, cut off harshly by Phi bursting into the room. She didn’t give any explanation, only directed them towards the number 2 cabin.

By the time they arrived, Alice had already been long dead.

Nona started yelling at everyone, pointing and screaming, but nobody would simply confess to a murder. She’d started crying, and she moved to run out of the room- when Sigma grabbed onto her arm, holding her in place.

“Nona, wait. Alice wasn’t murdered- she killed herself.”

“Wh-What? N-No…. no, there’s _no way_ she’d do that!”

“It was radical-6. Alice was infected with radical-6.”

“But you just said that she killed herself! _Stop changing your story!_ ”

“Just listen to me- K, there was a journal in the lab, right?”

“A… journal?”

“Yeah. It’s all written in latin- just give it to Phi.”

“Hold up.” Phi squinted when she looked over to Sigma, arms crossed. “What makes you think I can read latin?”

“Just _trust me_ , Phi. There’s one page you’ll be able to read- it’s page 216.”

She raised an eyebrow, but that confusion turned into surprise as she flipped to the page in question. After a moment’s hesitation she began to read it out- the page described the symptoms of the virus, what it did… it was all the proof she needed.

“Alice… _Alice_ …”

Nona began to cry, sitting down on the bed in the room. Nobody touched her, nobody got close- how could they? Junpei wanted to offer comfort, but he knew that he couldn’t. There was no way he could get close, not _now_ , not when he was old like this and couldn’t even say his first name.

And he couldn’t even give her the time to mourn, not when the coloured doors were about to open. He didn’t see who picked up Alice’s bracelet, but he was paired up with Quark- he ran to the infirmary with Sigma, looking for his son. And he didn’t have to look long- he almost ran into the boy the moment the door opened, stopping in his track and being bumped forwards by Sigma behind him.

“Quark? You’re awake!”

“Yeah, I just woke up.”

Junpei crouched down as he spoke, checking his eyes- they were clear. He brushed a hand up against his forehead- no fever.

“Hey, Grandpa? What’s up? What’re you doing?”

“Quark…” His voice shook as he spoke, and he couldn’t keep himself on his feet. In one motion Junpei collapsed to his knees, pulling Quark into a tight hug. “I’m so glad… I’m _so glad_ you’re alright…”

“G-Grandpa? What’s wrong?! Are you okay?”

“It’s… it’s nothing.” Junpei smiled, trying to ignore the tears streaming down his face. He didn’t want to worry Quark, most certainly, but he needed to allow himself this one moment of weakness. “It’s fine. Everything’s fine now, Quark. All of it… all of it was just one terrible, _horrible_ nightmare. But it’s over now.”

“Grandpa…?”

Saying nothing, Junpei let himself cry for a little bit longer. He had to stop, though- there really wasn’t any time for this. He could allow himself to be happy once they were safe on the other side of the secondary doors.

“Uh… guys? Look, I hate to break things up, but we _really_ don’t have any more time for this-“

“Oh, Mr. Sigma!” Taking a step back, Quark looked up at Sigma, before taking a look at the time on his bracelet. That seemed to give him a start- he started grabbing at one of Junpei’s sleeves, trying to pull him out of the room. “What’re we standing around here for, Grandpa?! The door’s gonna open- we’ve gotta go!”

“Hold your horses, I’m coming. Don’t panic, it’ll be fine.”

Pushing back up to his feet, Junpei could finally allow himself a tired smile. They all ran to the warehouse quickly as they could, arriving just in time for the doors to open. Everyone was shocked to see Quark awake and well- but a sharp glare from Junpei seemed to get them to realize he didn’t want them giving out any details. From there it was a simple matter to divide who’d enter which doors, him and Quark following after Sigma to the door on the right.

The room itself looked something like an office from a spy movie- there was a computer, a vault, a few shelves, and a suit or armor. They split up to check the room without talking too much, Junpei’s eyes now falling on a fine bottle of scotch.

“O ho… looks like Zero’s got some pretty decent taste after all.”

“Huh?”

“This scotch here- it’s from a 150 year reserve… although it’d be older than that by now. In fact, it might’ve gone bad, so I should really give it a test-“

“Grandpa, no.”

Quark tugged at Junpei’s shirt, shaking his head slowly. Sigma just watched the exchange with amusement on his face- perhaps normally Junpei would’ve been embarrassed, but he was still just far too happy to really care.

He next looked over at a very cheap bottle of scotch, eying it up; but before he could even say anything it’d been picked up by Quark with a shake of his head.

“So mean to your old man…”

“ _Grandpa_ … just take it with you when we get out, why don’t you?”

“Quark, that’s an excellent idea. But we’d be taking the expensive one, not _that_ bottle. It looks like it’s basically water…. So I could just have a taste, and check-“

“ _Grandpa!_ ”

Quark’s face was a full-on pout now, earning a laugh from Junpei. It was good to see him so energetic again, joking around and getting upset and doing things that a kid was supposed to be doing.

“I kid, I kid. Let’s just keep at figuring out this room for now.”

They continued to look around, Sigma poking at things and picking things up, until he finally stopped in front of a tall device on one end of the room.

“What is that thing?”

“A facial recognition device, I’m pretty sure. That lens scans your face against whatever it has in its database, and probably turns something on if it matches up.”

“Well, should we try it then?”

“Might as well.”

However, try as they might, it didn’t seem to work for any of them. A little electronic voice was beeping that there was a gender mismatch- well, that was a problem. If it needed a girl, then they were stuck… or rather, they would’ve been.

Quick as a flash, Junpei slipped Akane’s photo up in front of the scanner. It beeped a few times before there was a thud, and the sound of machines moving- the three of them all jumped back as the wall directly beside the scanner started to spin, revealing a secret room like you’d find in an old cartoon.

In the momentary lapse, Junpei was too slow to pick the picture back up- he lunged forwards as Sigma picked it up, flipping it around to look at her face.

“Hey! Don’t look!”

He snatched it from Sigma’s hands, but it was too late. He’d already seen her, and the curiosity was as obvious as the mechanical eye on his face.

“Who was she? Your daughter, or something like that?”

“No.”

“…Granddaughter? Is she Quark’s sister, or whatever?”

“ _No_.”

“Well then, who is she?”

“ugh…” He’d already seen the picture- the damage had been done. “Her name was… Akane Kurashiki. She died a very long time ago.”

“Oh, I… I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. It’s fine.”

“….But then… why did you have a picture of her? And, didn’t you have another one as well, earlier?”

“Th-That’s, uh..”

“Because she was his first love!” Quark pushed his way into the conversation, reaching into Junpei’s pocket and pulling out the picture of Carlos. “And this was his husband. We don’t really have many pictures, but I think they’re good ones! Even if Grandpa doesn’t like having them out.”

“Q-Quark, that’s enough!”

“Oh?” Despite Junpei’s obvious embarrassment, Sigma had leaned in- clearly searching for more details. “You were married, Tenmyouji?”

“I-I— it’s nothing like that. We never got married or anything, we just… were together.”

“So, even an old grouch like you can find love…”

“Sh-Shut up!”

Junpei punched Sigma on the arm, but he found he wasn’t actually mad or anything. It felt… light. Enjoyable, in a way that he hadn’t really felt with another person in a long time. After a while he eventually put the picture back for the facial recognition device, putting Carlos’s picture away and letting them get back to solving the room. The rest of the puzzles weren’t too bad and they finished things up relatively simply, although the strange circular stage in one corner of the room never seemed to do anything, nor did they ever find the passwords for the computer.

Oh well, it hardly mattered. They’d gotten out, after all.

They started walking back towards the upper floor, and Junpei’s hand went back to his pocket- and his blood ran cold for just a second.

”Dammit!”

“G-Grandpa? What’s wrong?”

“I left something in the director’s office.”

“What was it?”

“The _picture!_ ” Frustrated, Junpei shook his head. “Argh, how could I _forget_ it… look, you two go on ahead. I’ll go back around and pick it up.”

“I wanna come with you!”

“Me too.”

Looking between the both of them, Junpei eventually just turned to Sigma and shook his head.

“The others are probably waiting- you go on ahead. It won’t take us long, we’ll catch up in no time.”

“Alright then.”

With a grin and a nod, Sigma walked off in the direction of the warehouse. Junpei took Quark’s hand, and the two of them headed back to the office, Junpei’s pace a little bit faster than it had been before in his anxiety to get the picture back. It was the last remaining memory he had of Akane, after all… she’d been dead for so long now, and now Aoi was dead too.

Junpei picked it up and went to leave with Quark, when a sound caught their attention.

“What in the…”

In the corner of the room was a hologram, of someone who was unmistakeably Sigma. His outfit was different, yes- but there was no argument that it had to be him. However, something seemed… _different_. The way he held himself didn’t seem at all like the Sigma he knew, so what… what was going on?

“ _So, you’ve finally made it_.”

The sudden words from the hologram’s mouth got Junpei to jump a little bit, and Quark gasped as it spoke up. He’d probably never seen something quite like this in his life- his eyes were lit up with a mix of concern, and guarded excitement. However, the hologram’s next words- they were all Junpei needed to feel his heart turn to ice.

“ _I am Zero._ ”

It made sense, in a nonsensical way. Sigma was an enigma- So many people here just simply didn’t make sense, but Sigma was the greatest mystery of them all. He was old, like Junpei, but he showed no sign of recognizing _any_ of them, any of these faces he _should_ have recognized- and here was a hologram of him, claiming that he was Zero. It was… surreal. Too perfect, almost- the obvious simplicity of it all could only get him to laugh.

Sigma- no, _Zero_ continued to talk, and Junpei continued to felt his blood turn to ice. He’d wanted to _trust_ Sigma. He’d felt like it was possible, he’d felt like Sigma was a _good person_ … but really, he’d just been a fool.

Again.

He was ever the fool, a truly _gullible_ person- he’d been led along during the nonary game ~~and failed~~ , and now he’d been led along in this ambidex game ~~and failed~~. He was just a fool.

He hardly listened to Zero’s speech, trying to keep his frustration from becoming visible to Quark. He hated this- he _hated_ it. He’d thrown Quark into trouble, Quark had gotten _radical-6_ because of this, and for what? For him to think he’d found a person he could call a friend, only to be betrayed.

“We’re leaving, Quark.”

“H-Huh?”

“We’re getting out of here.”

“But Grandpa, what about-“

“We’re _leaving_.” His voice was cold and final, staring at the residual light from the stopped hologram. “We’ll both have enough BP by the end of this round. We’re leaving.”

“Grandpa…” Quark fidgeted for just a moment, before sighing. “Alright. But, can I at least do something before we go back?”

“Alright.”

Quark was scrambling to write something down on a paper he must’ve ripped out of one of the books- Junpei didn’t really know or care at this point. All that mattered was that he was going to get him and his son _out_ of this nightmare, and back to Earth where they _belonged_. No more of this hell.

They took the short route back to the elevator and upstairs to the lounge, Junpei almost _relieved_ to find that Sigma wasn’t there waiting for them. He needed more time to cool off- he was mad, and he didn’t know if he could’ve kept calm running into him at this point.

The others all explained that Sigma had gone looking for them, and that he’d probably be back soon. Junpei didn’t _care_ , of course… but he’d wait.

_“Who_ _are_ _you, Luna? How the hell could you know this?”_

_“I-I’m…I suppose, I’m a part of this place. Like Sigma, although he doesn’t know it yet.”_

_“What?”_

_“Now, you should hurry and go. Before someone finds us.”_

The memory was vague at best, pushing its way into his mind, but it only made things click further. It was another timeline, yes- but Luna had wanted to warn him. Even if she was ‘ _part of this place_ ’, whatever _that_ meant, it was all the more reason for him to know that Sigma was not to be trusted.

“Oh, Mr. Sigma!”

Quark’s exclamation brought Junpei back into the moment, turning to look as Sigma ran over to the group, breathing heavy from exertion.

“So, look who finally showed up.”

“Who- you’re the ones I was looking for!”

“Yeah, yeah.” Shrugging and trying to hide his frustration, Junpei looked at the AB rooms as everyone else started to go inside. “So, Sigma. You’re going to vote ally, right?”

“Huh?”

“I mean, Quark and I have no reason to pick betray. We’ll each have nine BP no matter what after this round ends- so what’s the point in picking betray? And on the other hand, even _if_ you betray, you’re not going to reach nine. It makes more sense for both of us to ally.”

“Well… yeah, I guess you’re right. But, wait. Even _if_ that makes sense, and we both ally- you’ll be sitting at nine, and I’ll only have five. What guarantee do I have that you won’t open the number nine door?”

“I will promise you. I give you my word, I _will not_ open the number nine door.”

“And me too! I won’t either!”

“Alright, then…”

Seemingly satisfied by their answers, Sigma nodded and gave Junpei a grin. He forced one in return before stepping into the AB room with Quark, and pressing betray without a second’s hesitation.

“Grandpa, but didn’t you just say-“

“I don’t care. Sigma already betrayed us, Quark- he’s _Zero_. He deserves worse than that.”

“Grandpa… but, you promised you wouldn’t open the door. There’s no point to this.”

“Neither of us will- _Nona_ will.”

“What?”

“She’s playing against K, and has Luna on her team. Luna only has one BP- K has no choice but to ally. As for Nona… Alice died. Knowing her, she’ll do anything possible to get out of here in search of help. She’s probably already trying to contact Ennea, even if it’s pointless by now…”

“’Ennea’? Grandpa, what are you talking about?”

“It’s not important, Quark. Just trust me on this.”

“Okay…”

He grabbed Quark’s hand and led him to the nine door when the polling period closed, watching with careful eyes as Nona made her way in front of them. Nobody was paying them much mind, and by the time their bracelet points had updated, things had already fallen exactly how Junpei had hoped they would.

The three of them were at eleven- the moment the voice from the speakers confirmed that, Nona yanked the lever to open the door hard, watching as it slowly rose.

“ _Tenmyouji! What the hell?!_ ”

“I kept my promise, Sigma! _I_ never _touched_ that lever!”

“That’s some twisted shit, you son of a bitch! You _betrayed_ me!”

“It’s what you _get!_ ” Sigma’s face twisted in confusion at Junpei’s words, but he ignored it. The only thing that mattered now was getting Quark out, and- “Quark! Get back here!”

“One second, Grandpa!”

The boy had ran over to Sigma, shoving the slip of paper he’d been writing on before into his hands before running back over to Junpei and Nona, crossing the threshold to freedom.

“Nona, _why?_ ” It was Phi, furiously demanding an answer from the other side. “Why did you open the door?”

“I’m going to get help. I’m going to call the others- then, we’ll capture Zero Sr.”

“And Tenmyouji?”

“Sorry. But I’m not letting Quark stay in this hell any longer than he has to.”

There was no more time for words- the door had already started to close again, the creaking of metal on metal echoing through the warehouse and the space beyond.

“Hey, Sigma.” No response but a glare. “I figured out who Zero is. Just thought you’d want to know.”

“Wh-what? Who is he-“

But before anything more could be said the door slammed shut, sealing them off. He could hear Dio kicking and cursing furiously, but it didn’t bother Junpei much- he just turned about and started to lead the two others to a lift, then to a decompression chamber behind that.

Nobody spoke- there weren’t any real words that could be shared at this point, anyways.

Instead it was silent as they made their way to the surface, a long quiet that held heavy on all their shoulders as they continued on to the shuttle base. Junpei assured Nona that he’d explain everything once they boarded… but that conversation was going to be a long one.

Guilt weighed still on Junpei’s mind at leaving, although he didn’t want to admit any of that. Not for Sigma, he couldn’t care less for the man who’d betrayed him- but for the others who would probably end up dead stuck with only their suspicions. Humans weren’t good creatures- with people already dead, it would only be a matter of time before they’d killed each other, probably.

But Quark was alive, and safe, and out of that hell. And that was all that mattered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HO BOY. I did not mean for this chapter to take a half a year to get out- a lot of things happened in quick succession last August to tie my hands for this project, and then mixed with going back to school and simple easy distraction by other projects I ended up procrastinating to hell and back on this. Whoops!
> 
> However, I got this done (after sitting on the finished story for about another month whoops) and it's finally time to post an update! My passion for projects just comes and goes in waves sometimes- it'll take time for me to get my groove once it gets interrupted like it did before, and I'm also battling a bunch of different fic ideas i may or may not post, plus potential re-writes of older fics to change things i've never been fond of. But, regardless, thanks to everyone who's waited so long for this! I seriously appreciate it, you don't know how much it means to me. And I appreciate every kudos and comment- even the little ones I really take to heart.
> 
> Thanks for reading, and until next time! (Which will hopefully be far, far sooner.)


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